SBGi’s Pedro Carvalho Included in Bellator’s 145 lbs Grand Prix

Bellator president Scott Coker appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN today and during the interview announced the competitors and first-round match-ups for the eagerly anticipated featherweight grand prix tournament.

Amidst the impressive lineup of current, former, and likely future champions, Irish eyes may be drawn to the inclusion of SBG Ireland’s Pedro Carvalho (10-3). The Portugese native is currently riding high on a five-fight win streak, the most recent three coming inside the Bellator cage. Carvalho will surely be feeling confident as two of those wins came over Derek Campos and Daniel Crawford, fellow competitors in the tournament.

Carvalho will face off against UFC veteran Sam Sicilia (16-9) in the first round of the tournament. The fight will take place on Saturday 7th September in San Jose, CA.

Bellator “champ champ,” Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, will defend his featherweight title in every round of the tournament that he competes in. His match-up versus Juan Archuleta will be the only five-round affair in the first round. All fights in the second round of the tournament (and beyond) will be five round contests.

The full list of first-round matchups are as follows:

Saturday 7th September: Bellator 226 @ SAP Center, San Jose, CA.

• Sam Sicilia (16-9) vs Pedro Carvalho (10-3)
• Daniel Straus (26-8) vs Derek Campos (19-9)
• Pat Curran (23-8) vs Ádám Borics (13-0)
• Emmanuel Sanchez (18-4) vs Ty-wan Claxton (5-0)

Saturday 28th September: Bellator 228 @ The Forum, Inglewood, CA.

• (C) Patricio Freire (29-4) vs Juan Archuleta (23-1)
• AJ McKee (14-0) vs Georgi Karakhanyan (28-9-1)
• Darrion Caldwell (17-3) vs Henry Corrales (12-3)
• Daniel Weichel (39-11) vs Saul Rogers (13-2)

The winner of the tournament will also receive $1,000,000.

Here’s your 16 man opening round of the Featherweight Grand Prix! #BellatorWGP pic.twitter.com/UzfC63pe97

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) July 15, 2019